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Cappagh and Blue Have v5,6,7,8 running numbers now available.

Horse landing. funny how names persist, when was the last time that saw a horse ? ive neigh idea, but off the hoof i’d say WW2 ?

Just say your building an extension, bricks are heavy so your bringing them one at a time.

I love ripping my locos apart, but only if they are in one piece when I start. Replacing that coupling may require soldering of small gauge wires, or a specialist crimping tool… Do you really want to be bothered doing that when its under warranty, knowing your dismantling the chassis and tender chassis to do it. (Tbh I would probably replace the coupling entirely and fit a jst connector and shorter coupling bar). I have 3 realtrack pacers awaiting couplings to be soldered, but I paid £75 each for them, not £230, because they were faulty, they are a pig of a model ive seen in a while, but at £75 i’ll risk it… i’d take a broken black 5 for £75 too and have a go, but not at £200.

And they all still exist….indeed there is only 1 bck missing from recreating the exact train.

FO + BCK = Intercity Swallow white roof stock….would be timely for a class 89 ? FO is the gap in wcrc stock too.. RB… I guess were close to a REP now. nice

Whats the story with 37108 ? I dont think its run this century and its had lots of body work attention over the years and clearly cared for, is this one coming back to life or just intended as a static exhibit ?

If you borrow money, the lender usually requires an asset to secure against. May 2022 https://www.securetrustbank.com/our-news/business-finance/Hornby-on-the-right-track-with-12m-facility-from-secure-trust-bank £6mn accounts, £6mn inventory. Would it be reasonable to assume borrowing against stock would come with limits on how you can dispose of that stock (for example not dumping it in a firesale, or maintaining certain limits ?) Making a whole rake of LNER and LMS Coronation toolings isnt going to be cheap…and I do wonder their longevity after a first run.. they are not exactly mark1’s used nationwide for 50 years and 30 liveries… my guess theres 7 figures invested in metal right there. The 2nd run LMS coaches are in that “instock” inventory not exactly selling out fast, its not for want of a loco either, as thats also in the current “instock” inventory for quite some time too. my thoughts are they may want to invest in a laser printer like Rainbow Railways and start doing some specials as theres a few things on the Hornby website I dont forsee flying out of the door in the colours they are in.

i would love to see your layout someday ! Ropley October 30th 2010 130pm

A very nice choice, ive been wondering when someone would start making these, its a natural gap. whilst ive seen them stored all over the place, ive never actually seen them in use!

Could they not open the sidelights by the seat's in the mk1, wedge the mk2d doors open and let the fresh air flow through ? so 4 coaches, 64 seats each, £65 a seat, £16k a day revenue. I wonder how much Scotrail are making on that line each day ? so whats up in scotland.. 37676/685 94225 4951 99326 99329 21266 1840 13320 13306 47245 45212 35486 6000, 6022 6103 1860 3360 45407 35517 3350 5453 99312 fomation looks like Train A 6000 4951 6022 1860 6103 21266 3360 by my reckoning there isnt enough to run a complaint train B… Unless theres been another drop, the only compliant stock is what just went up.. 3350, 5453. Perhaps there isnt a train B, but replacing the empty mk1 TSO with 5453, and a spare FO whats odd is theres now 3 Buffets up there.. 1840, 1860 and 99318, but only 1 brake.. 21266… the other two are support coaches. Could the buffets be the cdl power source? Whats the max length they could run with a 1 train operation on the current timetable ?

Just a guess .. but lead times for orders can be years. Back in 2020 A lot of people rushed to the hobby, it was probably the hobbys best year in sometime as everyone was locked up at home. No one knew how covid was going to play out, were we going to be locked up for years ? Track, scenics quickly disappeared, iirc Peco switched to PPE production. I recall one retailer phoning me to ask if I needed anything as these items were going to be rationed for a while. A larger than average order for these consumables maybe prudent, afterall track, scenics always sells, so is a safe bet, that it will sell sooner or later. Same thing to for Airfix kits, Humbrol paint etc. I do think though the range of coaches available is enormous, and disjointed. As it were by end of 2021 we were back on the streets again, and the models back in the box… and if the stock arrived 2022, its a headache. I do think the wider hobby has an emerging problem, in that lockdown saw a huge number of new toolings announced, and last count was nearly 60 new locos in 00 alone announced but not yet arrived… once these start landing they are going to need enough buyers with deep pockets to buy them, at a time where interest rates, inflation have climbed… thats where the prepay and deposit buyers are more locked in to commit, and are may become selective around other models arriving as a result, especially if they start arriving enmasse. Its just a guess but in my head it makes sense.

There seems to be a cycle, starting around 2012, where by they were over stocked, but with Sanda Kans demise they were understocked by 2017, and arguably catalyst to new entrants emerging, and having their own “supplier woes”, but by 2022 they were back in an over stocked position again. it takes years to develop a product, and 2027’s range is probably on the drawing board now, if the financial outlook is struggling, could we by 2027 be looking at being understocked once again ?

How many tyres do you think a model needs ? 1980’s Lima picked up on just 2 wheels of 6 on each side of a 37/47 etc. Only later they added 2 more pickups, on one side only.. so it picked up on 4 wheels oneside, 2 wheels the other side…. its problem wasnt the 2 tyres, it was pickups. A Black five has 8 wheels each side (inc tender and ponies) A Black 5 in 1990 had 3 driving wheels for pickups on one side, and 2 tender wheels for the other…. The rest just looked nice and rolled. A Black 5 in 2022 has 6 wheels each side to use for pickups. Adding a tyre to one each side would magnitudes improve the traction. However Hornby still only uses 6 of them for pickups. unless your running an 0-2-0 I think adding a tyre isnt an issue, but making full use of all wheels for pickups would help much more. As I said, the Germans can make it work..8 out of 8 powered, pickup, and just 2 tyres, it will crawl slower, out perform and pickup equally or better than any other Bo-Bo. Its also very balanced, so ensuring all the wheels are actually touching the rails.. might sound obvious but ive seen many oo models where they dont always make contact. I actually have a Bachmann split chassis manor running with the tyred wheels off an old Mainline 43xx… it will outperform many rtr steam today, as it combines weight, flywheel and tyre… and still picks up of 6 wheels either side (made from twine off a wine bottle), as I added pickups to the tender, giving 6 asside.. its unstoppable, even replaced the nylon axles with plastic rod from B&Q… one thing it wont do is stop for want of juice.

I have hundreds of locos.. My european ones are fine… some are 40 years old. Sure some wear out, none are irreplaceable. I assume your ringfield motors have never needed a carbon brush replacing ? 100 hours, built in obsolescence. Dont judge the tech by British technology of the 1970’s, but equally theres no reason why tech can’t go on adfinitum with spares. I suspect my KRModels fell will fall by the wayside before my Lima locos do… but I equally think my Roco/Trix/Sudexpress /Piko 21st century locos will outlive nearly everything OO made this century… its not just tyres, its the whole engineering quality… engineered right, inc, dodgy pickups is not an issue with traction tyres, because things like weight, balance and suspension are engineered into the design…. There really isnt many complaints about Hornbys class 50… yet for the first decade it too had tyres, until it was recognised it was so heavy it didnt need them.

Everything rots with age… the motor wears out, parts become brittle, mazak can rot, gear teeth wear out… thats not really an excuse.

Definitely in the minority there… theres not many, non railroad models out there without a fly wheel in the last 20 years. Fly wheel effect is minimal at slow speed, but a chunky flywheel will keep spinning the armature and the drive shaft after the power is cut. The effect is the magnetic sticking of the commutator as they rotate is reduced at lower speeds as the flywheel lump with residual energy is still twisting the shaft still resisting the sticking motion...hence a smoother stop at a declining speed. If you visibly want to see it.... stick on a whopper of a flywheel, run it fast, cut the power and see how far it travels… vs with smaller or none.. then you will see the difference. In IT flywheels are becoming extremely popular for keeping the lights on… running your external power supply through a massive flywheel, length of a house, before converting it back to electricity means that if for what ever reason the external supply gets cut, that continuing revolution of the wheel keeps power to the facility giving time for the batteries/generators to kick in and return that momentum. This is especially popular in Africa regions where dual power resilience cannot be guaranteed… One facility I went to, used a Natural Gas Engine (Jenbacher J616) which was later derived for use in Class 70’s.. massive beast, with the flywheel consumed nearly 40metres of building… enough to keep all South Africas mobile phone network running. iirc they said if they lost power, the wheel would keep momentum for over an hour without any back up supply… noisy beast and watching this long shaft spin was eerily impressive. In other uses, putting a flywheel on the end of a DC circuit is a way of avoiding burning out your DC powered equipment, if the va is too high instead of turning to heat and burning it, the flywheel takes the energy excess and turns it to kinetic energy, which inturn could charge a battery and reduce waste. personally I think we should adopt European style traction tyres myself and stop all this pretence about weight… (but queue the complaints from those who have never seen a European traction tyred model and only remember Hornbys elastic bands from 1979)… you’d get a much stronger, smoother performance.

Thats inline what I was also told. of course what is light (lamp/lantern/etc) amounts of glue is subject to personal opinion. But if youve got a faulty model, theres no point risking further damage, if its going back regardless.

Another vote for 37350 in 1980/90’s Green, with stratford cockney on the side. flickr url, not mine.

45407 went to Scotland this week, taking its support coach, another mk2def, and two rather interesting renovated coaches, 5453 mk2b with cdl, the other a mk1.. 99318 (ex 4912) rebuilt with a buffet ( without any obvious cdl signs) Not mine flickr Apparently the 37 is doing some work due to fire risk.

Does Chiltern trains still have a slam door mk3 set ? (iirc they have several sliding door sets but wasnt their one slam door set still around or has it gone now ?) this set was still listed in April 2022 on the part time spotter site, but its not been since. AL05 11094 12012 12019 12027 12041 12115 12151 12026

gosh, Where to begin with this one… If your wanting a box opening video online you better get a cup of tea first…. (Actually my little secret ive had my three since April 11th, ive just been on the road quite a lot so ive not had chance write this up, but the pictures were taken over the last 2 weeks, tonight I’m finally able to sit down at home and do it). The way they are delivered.. 1. wrapped in brown paper 2. in a cardboard box 3. in a white foam layer 4. wrapped in tissue 5. enclosed in a tin 6 inside a layer of black foam 7. inside a plastic display cradle 8. You find your engine…. Well its Brilliant, lets get that out of the way. The detail and paint finish are superb. Both bufferbeams are fully decorated. The model has oodles of separate parts.. starting with the bogies, the wheels holes are picked up, separate pipes, sand boxes, steps on the bogies. Not attention to both the orange and blue separately painted under body pipes.. The grills are much improved on the original class 24. door width and handles are much better than the recent Heljan offering. The roof panels, separate parts are picked out and painted individually Curved roof grills nicely picked out engine room detail visible…with relief, for the walk space. It definitely looks like a 25… It weighs in at 487g… thats not bad for a little type 2. To get inside…. This was quite tough, indeed very tough. First thought, unclip the body, no budge, no give. i noticed the buffers had screws, so I tried this, they come off… (this would be nice if Hattons 66/style there was a second set without the detailing fitted, somI could fit with the coupling, without having to remove the detailing)… Still no movement. Dont unscrew the second pair at your peril, thats the coupling cam box and that spring aint ever going back on. Theres nothing to hold on to.. not the tank its coming off, not the buffers they are coming off, not the bogie that tower you really dont want off. Now in the box is a load of gumpf… but whats not in there is a manual…. Not in any of my three 25’s. theres a nice notepad, but blank pages wont help me get the body off. the URL is here… https://sulzertype2.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Class24manualV1-3.pdf It suggests the body is just clip fit, but its just not having it. After losing 2 buffers, the tank risking looking loose and the underframe detail coming loose I am on the verge of giving up… the last model stuck like this was the Heljan PWM… and a-ha… Although I had 4 hotel keys in the 4 body retainers it simply wasnt having it… so I squeezed the hotel keys and hey presto the body unseated itself and came off. (Now note last time I tried that was Hattons 66’s and the grills would start popping off, but here we are ok)… but it revealed the issue…. The under body detail is a separate piece, on each side, it is glued to the body.. not the chassis and just a bit seeped between body and chassis gluing them together under the cab doors. so now I am in… The chassis is everything you would expect, JSTs holding it together, its laid out like the Heljan style boards with cab lights at the ends, motor wires in the centre. Two sugar cube boxes for speakers. Nice view of the cab interior details. Trying to remove the jsts is at your own risk, I noted they are very tightly fitted, and the female adaptors soldered to the board are not strong, it would be imo quite easy for these to come off causing an additional job (like on the recent 37 nose boards).. however lifting the board reveals a nice surprise on the motor… Never seen a personalized motor label before for a rtr model. looks like a smaller compact motor than used in several other models, but its nice to see the spec on their… How does it perform… 0.05amp start up makes it a little higher than average but its a very smooth start. it maxes out at 0.16amp, pretty average but with a nice turn of speed, this motor is definitely right for the job. Whilst inside a quick look at the cab interior details… Yes the buffer was added back later. So I cannot pose it next to a Heljan 25, as my one and only is lost in the pile, but heres an idea what were dealing with.. what stands out is the drivers cab rivets are much refined, the under frame detail, more refined, greater buffer detail, the engraving out outlines of the grills, vents and panels are more refined. It quite simply looks sharper. The interior detail is more pronouned both cab and engine room. Finally the cab doors again the glass seals look more refined as does the handrails. Old Bachmann and New Heljan… and the SLW 25.. Which leds me to lights… cab lights is nice, but the light bleed around the headcodes is a bit obvious.. The cab lights are unswitched, so engine room, cab and headcode are one LED, and always on going forwards on DC, unless you unplug it. One interesting note is the LED is whiter in the Cab for the blue, and yellower for the green… Overall thrilled with the loco, the packaging. What could be improved: 1. the light bleed around the headcode 2. instruction manual being included 3. separate buffer beam for those wanting to add a coupling. 4. some would want working fans. otherwise this is a top shelf model, Ive not had anything like this for a while and it does deserve the accolades and attention its been getting..

Technically they've had since 2018 to take that 66 tooling on… yes 6 years already.

Ive let the rat out of the bag….

Definitely not a hoax… ive got one !!!